NEW YORK, October 8. /TASS/. The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US, Liberian citizen Thomas Eric Duncan, has died, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Duncan was being treated for Ebola, said on Wednesday.

Duncan arrived in the United States on October 1 to visit his relatives. Several dozen people who were in contact with him are under medical surveillance.

The World Health Organisation says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed more than 3,500 people, while over 7,500 people have been infected. Analysts say the Ebola epidemic is emerging as a global threat which requires all-round attention.

The outbreak started in West Africa in December 2013 and by now Ebola has spread across five countries, namely Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.

Eight Ebola cases are reported in the European Union, Frederic Vincent from the European Commission said on Wednesday, dismissing, however, the risk of Ebola arriving in Europe.

He said all these patients had returned from Ebola-affected regions of Africa, adding that strict measures were taken in Europe to avoid an outbreak of the deadly disease.